61 replies to this topic

[Xeres]

Xeres lowered her hand slowly after Selena ripped her own hand away. She had more to say, but it was obvious that now was not the time to persue it. Her consideration was a reflection of her logical mind working again, which was something to be thankful for.

Still feeling a boiling sensation within her chest, she pulled her hood up again, most definitely feeling vunerable after the unexpected display of emotion. She was unnerving herself with these outbursts.

"...Thankyou."

She turned away from the consul, and headed over to One. Stopping midway, she turned to look at Selena once more.

"I will stay with One... We have much to discuss... And I doubt my presence will be of much help or comfort. I unsettle you, and following you around when you can hardly tolerate me is of no use to anyone. But..."

Reaching into her cloak, she unclasped a small orb from around her neck and tossed it at the consul.

"If your paranoia gets the better of you... And to let you know that I do desire your trust... For reasons I can barely fathom... Use that jewel. It can summon me in a moment's notice. If you doubt its use, have the bard inspect it... It's a rather simple trinket."

With that, she continued walking towards One, passing by him without saying a word. She knew her display would not go unnoticed by her teacher. It was not in her nature to be so easily offended and emotionally weak. She nearly disgusted herself, but couldn't find a way to excuse her actions.

... God damn crisis.

[Rhiannon]

Rhia walked around aimlessly. The city was quiet. No one was awake, no light was on except for the flickering streelights. They weren't much comfort.

Honestly, Rhia was uneasy. She hadn't seen any body, known or stranger, in the past hour. She had tried tuning in on Selena, but again she found herself incapable to decipher words. All Rhia knew was that Selena felt troubled and was in the forest. Shiima was there too. A pang of jealously washed through her. She tried to ignore it, to think of over things, but she couldn't.

And so, she walked and walked some more. She looked over her shoulders almost every two minutes.

Just the wind, just the wind, she kept mumbling to herself.

[ninja kitten]

Tears fell quickly down Shiima's face as painful, hidden memories flooded back to her. The sight of her childhood village destroyed by the troops, her mother dying before her eyes, her helpless pleas to the soldiers who had come to take her master away.

Struggling to keep herself together she lost it completly when Lena dismissed her. "Xeres, Shiima... you're out. Do not return to the safe house. Do not return to Ikana unless you wished to be executed for treason. One, negotiations are over. You do not have Ikana's support."

Quickly her head snapped up and her gaze locked on her master, or who used to be her master. The words dug deeper than anything ever had. She was alone, again. Looking around wildly, she noticed Xerex's expression and saw that she was shocked as well. All the hard work she'd done, everything... nothing mattered anymore.

Shiima sat there and wept bitterly as Lena and Xerex exchanged words, trying to ignore the harshness in their tones. Feeling more lost than ever she was suprised when the man walked away from the two women and spoke to her. "Shiima, these other two have some awkward business they need to sort out. Come sit with me."

Still deeply upset by what had just happened, she wasn't in any mood to be near anyone. She clinged to her kitten and cried her heart out, the little kitten mewing pitifully the whole time.

The exchange between Selena and Xerex finished, the assassin quickly left. Feeling Lena's gaze sweep past her, completly ignoring her presence Shiima felt not only pain, but also a sense of abandonment. Not knowing what to do, and definately not wanting to be the only traitor left near her ex-master, Shiima quickly got to her feet. Ignoring the nearly painful headache that had come due to her annoying and unwelcome tears, she ran blindly into the forest with the only thing on her mind being to get away from that disgusting place as fast as she possibly could. To run and leave all her pain behind.

-----
NOTE: hehe. that was hard. the x button on this suck laptop doesnt work. u___u

Edited by ninja kitten, 20 November 2006 - 07:55 PM.

[Selena]

Well, that was just peachy. She had a shiny thing and made another girl emotionally distraught. Shiima ran away crying, and since Selena was no counsellor or a babysitter, she resigned to simply go about her own business. If these people had something to discuss, far be it for her to interfere. Pocketing the jewel Xeres gave her, Selena left without another word. Any further commentary would have just led to more fighting. And Selena did not want to see Xeres burst into tears as well.

Kanagida in hand, the consul marched back towards the city, glancing around for that apprentice of hers. It was dangerous out now, after their operations. If Rhiannon was simply wandering about without reason, then... yes, there she was. In the middle of the city. After two major assassinations and an assault. Selena marched up behind her and gently began to usher Rhia back towards the woods in the direction of their safe house.

"Are you out of your mother loving mind, coming back down into the city? We were all supposed to meet back up in the house we procured. Come on," Selena demanded, nearly stomping off in the proper direction. Unintentionally, of course. But it indeed looked as if she was on some kind of mission.

Selena tossed her head back to Rhia. "Too much shit's gone down tonight." She sighed. "You aren't hurt, are you? Seen Toan or Goose loitering about?"

[Rhiannon]

Rhia cried out in shock at the sound of Lena's voice. She jumped around, getting classic ninja stance then quickly righted herself once she saw it was Lena. Slightly embarassed she coughed once, straightened out her clothes and then ran up and gave Lena a huge hug.

"I... I couldn't remember where the house was. I didn't know where to go and since I knew at least Toan should be down here that I would know someone but well as you can see he's not."

Lena looked tired, composed, but tired. To any passerby she looked in tact and never better, but Rhia could tell something was wrong. Quickly she gave Lena another hug. Walking close to her, more for her own comfort than Lena's, she began to tell Selena everything that had happened. Rhia spoke quickly, her words strung together more out of nervousness than anything else.

"SothenwewereontheroofandIwastryingtoherewhateveryonewassayingbutIcouldn't,butI'vebeenpracticingandIthinkI'mgettingprettygoodatitbutIdefenitelyneed alittlehelp,sorry.UnfortunatelyIcan'tquitemakeoutsouds,butIcanfeelings,maybeIshouldtrytofindToan.LikerightnowIca
tellyou'redistraughteventhoughtyoudon'tshowit!"

Rhia quickly covered her mouth at the last thing said. She knew how Selena was with feelings.

"Erm, anyway," she quickly murmred, "Where are Kitty and Xeres? Weren't they with you?"

Rhia turned to Lena in question. Apparently that wasn't the best thing to say either.

Edited by Rhiannon, 29 November 2006 - 02:17 PM.

[Khallos]

At the sound of the door grinding open, Khallos looked up from his mat of straw.

"Hey, does this mean I get one last nice big meal before I die?" Khallos yelled.

A piece of stale bread ricocheted off his head, as a jug of water and some soup was pushed in.

"Well I take that as a no then, you untraditional bastards. What's the world coming to?” he muttered to himself.

Pulling himself to his feet, he once again tried to pull himself up the wall to the ledge. Slipping on the damp stone, Khallos fell to the floor and twisted his ankle. Well now he had a limp as well, just perfect for running away. Curling himself up into a ball, he brooded away the time to the trial.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trial had been a farce, essentially just because he was covered in blood and had a sword on him at the time, he was at least responsible for the death of one Guard. As that carried the death penalty, they placed all the other charges on him, so the public had a scapegoat. Well justice had been done, and Khallos was going to experience death, again.

This time though, they'd be no coming back, he hoped that maybe Selena could bring him back if she found his body; though he wasn't sure it was good for your memories or IQ to be resurrected too many times. Hands bound behind him, he trudged through the crowds humming to himself.

"Shut it!" barked a guard, just as the rotten fruit and veg started getting thrown.

Khallos flinched as a grapefruit smashed into the ground by his feet. Well he thought, as he walked up onto the platform of the gallows, it's been a good unlife. Here's to the future, I really should say something dramatic, so they talk about this for ages.

"This man before you has been convicted with the murder of the Captain of the Guard Grimes, General Gage, over a dozen guards, arson, and treason. May you see that those who partake in the most vile and evil of crimes shall be punished accordingly. He is sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. All praise to General Khuffie!" shouted the Mayor.

This couldn't be happening, he was just supposed be hanged, no disembowelling and chopping up. Last words time, hopefully my neck will break, nice and quick.

"Even though you fool your consciences, your souls will be mine, all mine!" shouted Khallos

Damn! He got the words mixed up.

"I mean, even tho-" he tried to say as pomegranate whirled out the sky and smacked into his head.

Edited by Khallos, 29 November 2006 - 04:28 PM.

[Toan]

Toan kicked some dirt around the floor with his foot. Where was everyone? I've been in this lousy safehouse for hours now... He kicked some more dirt around, and coughed a bit, wiping some blood off of his clothes and mouth. He grinned a little...

Toan had let Goose take on the main objective without a word spoken between them, and proceeded to destroy his own opposition, menial guards, with ease, around the gates and roads. But once the manslaughtering was finished, Toan retreated to the safehouse and promptly bored himself. There was an old wooden billiards table he tried to entertain himself with, but it was off balance and without opposition Toan wasn't too thrilled playing.

Where did they go?

[ninja kitten]

Wiping her runny nose on her sleeve and taking deep breaths to calm herself, Shiima approached the safehouse. She'd had her good cry and was willing to see if things had changed. She certainly hoped they had. She sat down near the front door, leaning against the wall. "I was told not to return, but this isn't really returning since I'm not going in..." she thought to herself, "All of this is so unfair. It's not like I chose that moment to remember some random guy." Pushing the dust around with her toe, she began to pet the kitten. It was so soothing to not have to worry anymore about what mood Lena would be in or what dangerous missions lie ahead. "I began this war a whiny brat, but have grown. Maybe it is time for me to leave the group... but only if I have to." Exhausted from the flood of emotions earlier, Shiima laid her head against the wall and quickly fell asleep.

[Nevermind]

One had not shifted from his position at the base of his newfound tree during the entire tirade. He slowly raised his head and surveyed the area, not really looking at anything in particular. One reached his hand up behind himself. "Xeres."
The assassin walked over to him and took his hand to help him up. Instead she found herself being pulled down towards him as he leapt to his feet, immediately diving head first towards the ground. The two passed straight through the forest floor and vanished.



One slinked silently out of the woods, Xeres in tow. A strange expression sat upon her face. They moved to where a young girl leant against a lone house, her head tilted back as she lay in a gentle slumber. Ignoring the spitting and hissing sounds erupting from within the girl's hood, One crouched down close to her; Xeres stood behind him, silently watching. With a gentle tap of his finger, he lightly flicked the end of the young girl's nose.
His gentle voice was barely audible, directed more at the girl's subconscious than her ears.
"Hello Shiima. Wake up."

Edited by Lazurukeel, 01 December 2006 - 11:08 AM.

[ninja kitten]

Shiima woke with a start, glancing around wildly. "Oh, it's you two," she managed to whisper when her eyes adjusted and she noticed One and Xeres standing over her. Reaching into her hood she pulled out the upset kitten that threatened to claw her to death to get to the others. Still sleepy, Shiima slowly, and rather stiffly, got to her feet. Rubbing her neck she thought how silly it had been that she'd fallen so deeply asleep. "Some kind of warrior I am" she muttered before turning her attention to her new companions. "Where to now?" she asked. "I'm cold, hungry, and this is definately a bad day... or night." She wrapped her cloak tightly around her, wishing she could just lay down again and return to her dreamless sleep.

[Nevermind]

One and Xeres both glanced at each other then to Shiima. One placed his hand on her shoulder. "For now, I need you to stay here and remain loyal to Selena. Xeres and I have some business to take care of. I will come back for you in time. Then we will start to move forward. We will both wait until Selena arrives to be sure you are safe here. Afterwards, the two of us will be gone for a while." He gave her a quick wink. "You're tough stuff. You'll be fine."

[ninja kitten]

"Aww, but she hates me!" Shiima whined for a couple of seconds. She was upset that she was going to be left behind, but more than that she was also scared of having to face Selena again. How does a person even begin to apologize for being a traitor. Dropping her head and staring at her feet, Shiima stood there for a few seconds, her mind fully awake now. "I just really dont want to face 'lena again, but if I have to, I guess I will." She nodded, more to herself than to the others. "I'll do my best to patch things up. Guess there's nothing else I really can do." With that all she could do now was wait... and hope.

[Toan]

Only a short bit ago, Toan had reached into his pocket and withdrew a little brown bottle from the depths within. Adrenochrome. Oh, it had been ages....

He'd cast a glance around the room... and took a hit of the pure substance.

It was already working on him. The first wave felt like a combination of mescaline and methedrine. Maybe I should should take a swim, he thought. The humanity of it all - the fish's palms began to sweat and his heart began to race - the room began to sway and, blinking frantically, he wondered why the skin... his own skin was crawling, what was crawling on him, why, why were they crawling on him...

Few things in life merit such divine punishment, such consequence of actions and coincidence, he thought... or did he hear it? Surely the underdog was paying his tribute to my inadequacies... Purity and Rhyme and Reason were laughing, yet the dull ringing in my ears disallowed their shrieks of mirth penetration... But what of Faith and his brother Justice? Why let their sisters continue their playful games on me? Did I deserve it? At my expense, my cost, my shreds of dignity? Steady drip, drip drip does the facet go, that's all I can hear. The mute faces laugh... He brought his arm, no, his hand to the red oracles of obscurity but they felt like hollow and metallic...

On the floor, Toan weighed his options as his ears continued to ring... The stare of the little deaf girl is penetrating as she plays with her camera... Time was running short - what to do what to do... Does time run? Does it ever stop to smell the roses, or is he too busy running? His shoes must become untied, which explains the tripping... the stumbling motions I can't remember... I almost gasped, yet maybe I did... was I talking? Did I say that outloud? "Can they hear me?" I hear breathing.... is it someone else's, or but merely mine? It's so loud... Why doesn't she help, she's a nurse... she can't hear me as she reloads the film.... But she fumbles - why, God, why... If you give her carrots she cannot make lemonade...

There were voices outside. There were voices inside, though. But even though such a trip was... such a trip, it was worth it again. Oh, how he'd missed this...

...Whisper to me red mute faces, little deaf girls...

[Selena]

Lena paused and listened to every bit of Rhiannon's rambling, and her face gently twitched as she both carried on and mentioned the two names she genuinely did not want to hear at that present time. Rhia seemed to notice her mistake and shut up, but the damage had been done.

Selena crossed her arms and continued to walk on towards the safe house. "Xeres and Shiima are in the middle of something, at the moment. They're safe and intact. That should be enough for you to know."

Instead of angrily ranting about that, she simply resigned to falling back into a teacher role. When in doubt, she always had that. "As for your telepathy, don't deliberatly try to push it. If it is meant to become more powerful, it will do so naturally. If not, then being able to read into emotions is often just as valuable as reading actual words given how most people don't even bother to think in sentences. It's all... instinct and base emotions."

She shrugged.

"But then again, I am not much of a telepath. A fleeting thing every now and again, but nothing more. Let's just go home and get to bed. If Toan is not back within two hours, I'll dispatch a rescue team."

Selena continued to hike up across the city outskirts and towards the safe house. There she noticed a few figures, but could not tell if they were friend nor foe nor robed menace at that range. But, on that train of thought, Selena leaned over and whispered to her apprentice.

"Rhiannon, when we get back, you're free to sleep. But during the next couple days I want you to keep your eyes on both Xeres and Shiima. Look out for anything suspicious." Knowing that she sounded crazy and that Rhia would ask about it, she held up a hand. "I know. Just do as I ask."

That said, she marched on, nearing the place of safety.

[Rhiannon]

Rhia feel quiet. Not a sound or word came out of her mouth. Selena talked. Rhia listened. Once everything was said, she fell back a bit. Selena walked with a mission. Rhia dragged behind. She thought about everything that was said. She knew something was wrong. Selena either, couldn't or wouldn't talk about it. Confusion and mistrust rose in her chest. She didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to walk. She didn't want to talk or think or do anything for that matter, so she stood where she was. Her eyes followed Lena's head movement towards the house. She barely saw the two cloaked figures. It took some concentration but eventually she recognized Xeres and then Shiima on the ground. A great amount of distress radiated off of her.

Lena said to watch out for them, but it looks more like they need to watch out for her.

Rhia shook the thought out of her head. She wondered about Goose. She could use a story now. She wondered about home. How was everyone. She wondered about Toan. She knew nothing about him, and frankly that scared her. Not to mention his vengeful aura. Maybe she should give him a chance. He did not sleep, maybe she would try to talk to him tonight. Clear her mind. It might be nice.

[Selena]

With Rhiannon quiet and submissive, accepting her orders without complaint for the moment, Selena finally closed the final distance between her and the safe house. There, she came to a halt, taking a good long look at each of the people outside. Her arms were crossed, and her body was obviously tense. Her gaze passed from One, to Xeres, and then finally to Shiima.

Saying nothing at all, she walked to the door of the house to check if anyone had met up inside. Opening it, she poked her head in and... lord almighty, what was that smell? Ah. Fish. A zoned out fish. God dammit was he doing that again?

"Toan!" She hollered. "The walls! Look out! They're spewing monsters that will eat your head!"

That done, she left the door open for Rhiannon to enter if she so desired. She passed by the trio of dissenters she was not exactly fond of, and headed to the other side of the building. She tilted her head to that group, and then to Rhiannon, and made a feeble announcement.

"I am on watch duty. I intend to stay up for a while. Those who have nothing to do should go to sleep," Selena said. "If Goose fails to arrive, keep a look out for him."

That done, she went to the side of the building that faced Resden. A good view of the direction that danger would potentially come from, she slid down the wall of the safe house until she landed on the ground. Crossing her legs in a yoga fashion, there she remained, still and steadfast, not caring what the others decided to do. She did not want to be spoken to. Thinking. Much thinking.

[Toan]

Toan's perspiring face rose for a moment and his eyes focused on Lena as she hollered "Toan! The walls! Look out! They're spewing monsters that will eat your head!"

Toan groaned and slurred back "Mmmmmmmmnononononono.... fucking pigs!" He waved an arm and threw some dust off the floor around as he stood and fell back over. Groping around, he put a rag on his head and made a squealing noise, before saying something barely distinguishable involving a large bar of soap and a polar bear.

His eyes rolled over on Rhia and stayed there for a bit before he scrambled backwards a bit and said muttered something unintelligable, and then pulled the rag over his eyes.

Overall, if Toan was in the proper mental state, it would be more noticable to him exactly what the hell everyone else saw. The billiards table, missing a leg, was smashed and still on fire - the missing leg was strapped onto Toan's left leg and the end was carved into a sharp point, which was splattered in something blue and dripping. The walls were covered in various substances - liquor, condiments, even the blue substance and some blood - and obscenities, crude pictures and some religious verse was splattered in it. There was a painting on the back wall which was upside down and had a hole through the subjects face. Protruding through this face was the cue ball from the table, with a smilie face drawn on it and some leaves for hair. A broomstick lay on the windowsill, surrounded by the shattered glass of the actual window, and the surrounding area was dripping wet and gave off a wretched stench. The broomstick's end, the actual bushy bit, was smeared with fecal matter... possibly the source of the stench. It certainly wasn't fish poop, though... Toan himself was a mess - covered in rope and smelling of smoke and the drugs, he was also wearing a pair of goggles and a pink, charred bathrobe (in addition to the afformentioned billiards table leg). To top his look off, sitting just next to him was an open jar of mayonaisse with a single stick of bread protruding from the mayo.

Toan moaned from under the rag.

[Goose]

Goose was walking along the road, on the way to the safehouse. He'd spent a bit of time recovering from using all that energy, and looked back on his plans. It had been quite stupid. He'd gone all macho magician and left himself incapacitated and barely alive for days. Sure, it was fun to lash out on occasion, but that was just too much.

So he walked along, thinking about times past, like he always did these days. He wondered how all the others had got along.

He thought of Rhianon, and how much she reminded him of one of his grandchildren, from many a year ago. Jenny. Jenny was a feisty one that was for sure. She loved playing around, and even when she was still in nappies, she was getting into trouble. There was that time she set her hair on fire when she wanted to see how hot fire really was. Boy did she learn that lesson fast.

Then there was the time that as a teenager, the boys were following her around, and at this stage, she wasn't interested in any of them, thought them all too boring for her. So she went and stated that there was going to be a tournament for her hand, but that she wasn't going to be present at the fighting. So, she got dressed up as a guy, beat up all her wannabe suitors and then showed them who she really was. She then took her own hand in marriage and moved out of home.

Ahh, a fiery one indeed. But underneath all that passion, there was also an innocence like no other. Goose remembered how she'd run into his arms crying because something had gone terribly wrong, and just cry for hours. She'd come to him for stories, for advice and just so she could blab out all that was going on in her life and know that he wasn't going to tell a soul.

Yeah. Goose missed Jenny. When she did move out she went an cut her hair short, enlisted in the army as a guy and went of and had all sorts of adventures, sometimes writing him letters from far abroad. In the end, Goose heard that she got killed while saving a village from a group of bandits attempting to do the whole rape and pillage thing. She died a heroin.

Yeah. Goose saw that fire and that passion in Rhianon. Speaking of the devil, he'd found the safehouse and saw the girl sitting outside the front door. He went up and hugged her, and dragged her inside, sat down by the fire, and told her to let it all out.

[Rhiannon]

Rhiannon froze when she felt someone else's presence. Fear washed through her. She opened one eye slowly and sunk into Goose's hug with relief. It had been a long night. He led her inside, she was grateful for the guidance, yet not so grateful for the place he took her. The house was a disaster. Goose sat down, and pulled her down with him, she sat for a moment to think. He had told her to tell him everything. Now it wasn't that she didn't him, in fact quite the opposite, she liked Goose very much, he had always been sort of a father figure, but she just didn't feel much like talking. She gave him a quick hug and stood up.

"Uhm, if you don't mind I think I might just tidy up a bit. And I guess I'll just tell you about my day while I'm working, k?" Rhia got to work straight away. With Shiima and Lena outside the house was fairly empty except for Goose in the corner, who was surely to fall asleep soon anyway, and Toan in another. Toan. What in the world would she do with him? Frankly he was scaring her to bits with his new attitude. Quitely she filled a bucket of chilled water and brought it over to him. She put a couple rags in it and left it by his side.

"So it all started after..." Rhia told Goose what had happened with Lena, and Xeres and their mission and after their mission and the wandering. Everything poured out while she cleaned. She scrubed the floors with her hands while wiping the fecal matter off the walls with a rag and soap using her mind. There was no way she was going to touch that. She swept up the broken glace and found a board to nail overtop of the window. She worked herself to the bone.

[Xeres]

Xeres' mind reeled, she hadn't been pulled into that void of One's for quite some time... She was no longer used to it. What a way to be re-introduced, to that cold and draining dimension. She felt numb, as if all the feeling was once again drawn out of her. That was the price that had to be paid if you felt it necessary to dabble in the elements of the dark. For once in her life, Xeres was glad for the numbness. It was... Comfortable.

She crossed her arms as One spoke, taking a moment to acknowledge Shiima and nod somewhat encouragingly. She then turned her attention to the approaching figures, saying nothing as they entered the safe house, and Selena exited to be on her own. Meditation? How... Quaint.

Looking lazily at the ninja's new feline companion, Xeres spoke.

"Shiima, you know what we're doing is important... They will understand our work in time. Give them reason to trust you. We are not traitors. We are not conspiring against anyone. We simply have duties to fufill... However unfortunate a position that puts us in."

Going silent, Xeres simply awaited One's next move, she knew what had to be done, regardless of the trust she had once had with Ikana... Some things needed to be set aside. Leaning against the wall, she felt herself drift further away and into the coldness. Yes, this was familiar. It was... Good.

[Nevermind]

One left Xeres and Shiima standing as they were and made his way around to the city side of the house. There Selena sat. Quite tensely, despite what appeared to be her best efforts to relax. He considered crouching, but decided not to as it may have appeared patronising towards the Consul. "Xeres and I have some business that needs attending to. We will be gone for a few days only. If you are not here when we return, do not worry yourself over us," One could not help but add in a little humour to the situation, as he did in any other. "We will catch up. Trust me." As he turned to leave, One spoke in a grave tone. "Selena. Do not take out any anger on Shiima. She has not betrayed you. No one here has. Keep your head straight."

He strolled back to the other side of the safehouse towards Xeres and Shiima. One held out his hand to his companion. "Let's go." With a quick jerk, One pulled Xeres into himself in a tight embrace as he fell backwards. He turned his head and gave a quick wink to Shiima before he and Xeres disappeared through the wall.

[Selena]

Ah, of course. He was taking one of her agents away already. Well, that was just fine. The others needed more experience in the field, although it was going to be a pain not having Xeres around to make sure the younger ones did not get themselves into trouble. Selena couldn't babysit all of them at once. Perhaps she would have to temporarily elevate Toan or Goose to command positions. Probably Goose, since Toan was... well... not quite himself at the moment. Rhiannon was still in training, and Shiima... well, despite One's words, she still did not trust her much.

She found herself taking a deep and cleansing breath before scooting to the edge of the building and looking behind to glance at her companions. Xeres and One absent or not, she still had an operation to run. The rumors would be flying around tomorrow once the public learned of the Ikana missions, hopefully placing the blame on Sornaiid rebels. She needed to follow through with her next mission. Perhaps it would be better done in a group now that they lacked a secondary leader. It would be done under the cover of night, of course. They would have to stay away from the public during the day.

"Rhiannon!" She finally broke the silence. "Rhiannon, come over here. Bring Toan with you if he's capable of moving and semi-rational thought. I want to speak with you."

[Rhiannon]

"Rhiannon!"

Rhia jumped with fright at the sound of Lena's yell. She had been cleaning and fixing things for well over an hour telling Goose everything and anything that came out of her mouth. She wasn't she if he was sleeping or not, being slumbed up against the fire place and all.

"Give me a minute!" She screamed through the still broken window. Oh right, gotta fix that still... where is that board... oomph... she tripped over Toans outstretched leg.

"Oh dear..." She looked at the disheveled fishman. "What a mess you are." Quickly she summoned a warm bucket of water and a cloth over with her mind. "Erm.. may I?" she asked, holding up a cloth. Without a response, she bent over and began to gently, yet shakily wash Toan's face. She was incrediably nervous since A) this man had haunted her nights for quite a while now and B) this was the first time she'd even been close to one except for Goose. Needless to say, she was terrified.

With a twitchy hand, she continued to wipe his brow with the warm water. Hopefully this would wake him up a bit more as well, maybe he could take over.

[Toan]

Toan dimly felt the water running down his face, and he knew he was swimming. He tried to warn Rhiannon.

"There's a uh, big machine in the sky, some kind of, I dunno, electric snake, coming straight at us."

He swore he heard her say "Shoot it," so he replied. "Not yet... I want to study its habits."

With that, he attempted to stand, oblivious yet again to Rhia's presence... yet still talking to her, he said "Cows are gonna kill me. Bisexuals are gonna kill me. Let's get out of here. Where's the elevator?" As he attempted to walk, awkwardly, he continued. "Wear some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. Impossible to walk in this muck." And on such a note, Toan tripped and smashed his forehead into the wall and rolled onto the floor and groaned miserably, glasping a hand to his head.

He paused there motionless for about 2 minutes, entirely silent, simply breathing.

Then he whispered softly "...How long have I been here, Rhia..."

He had been riding the crest of a large wonderful wave that had just crashed, and now, as it was receding, he was realizing what was going on... Toan clawed at the goggles, trying to remove them, and once he did he dropped them near him and began to try to unfasten the billiards table leg from his own leg, but in his flimsy state of being he was making no progress. He focused his eyes on Rhia and gave her a look of helplessness, clearly indicated he desired some sort of assistance.

[Khallos]

Recovering from the cruelly thrown pomegranate, Khallos felt the trapdoor slowly slide away. Finding himself slowly choking, he realised it wasn't one of those nice neckbreaker ones. Flipping his left leg up behind him, he managed to grab onto his knife still hidden in his heel and slice his bonds on his wrist, whilst cutting his wrists in his desperation. A fine way to die, bleeding to death as I escape, Khallos thought.

Kicking the executioner off the scaffold, Khallos grabbed a guard's sword from his scabbard and cut the noose around his neck. "Down with the Alliance, down with Khuffie!, Khallos hoarsely shouted, neck still sore from the hanging.

Diving off the scaffold, Khallos ran through the crowd. The guards still too shocked and scared to react, jumped into action but didn't seem to try to hard to chase him. Well, who wants to fight a known mass murderer?

Knocking off some stuck up merchant on his horse at the back of the crowd, Khallos mounted the animal. Rearing the horse onto his hind legs, sword in the air, Khallos shouted "Long live Ikana, death to Khuffie!" as a crossbow bolt slammed into his shoulder and half knocked him from his horse. Shit, shit, ideals get you killed. Wrenching the bolt from his shoulder with a grunt, he kicked the horse and rode through the crowded streets to the city gates.

Luckily the crowd parted for him, the effect and man covered with blood and wielding a sword on a horse could have on people was useful. He saw the gates in the distance and hoped the guards didn’t see him, behind the cries of “Stop him!” came and one of the guards on duty looked up. Running into the gatehouse dropping his food, the guard loosened the winch that held the portcullis up.

As it slammed down, impossible to get through, Khallos changed direction and forced the horse right, down a busy street smashing through the crowds. As bolts hit nearby civilians or struck off the cobbled streets, Khallos flung himself off his horse onto a midden, and scrambled down a nearby alley. He ran through the alley ways till he thought no one pursuing would be able to find him, and stole a jacket from a washing line to hide his bloodied clothes.

Another fine plan of mine, well at least I’m alive. Looking across the street he saw the city wall, peering out from the shadows he checked to see if there were any angry men in chainmail running about. Seeing the coast was clear Khallos ran across the street and deftly scaled the roughly cut stone of the wall. Gingerly letting himself down into a nearby bush, twisting his akle in the process; he stumbled across the countryside until he saw a lonely house in the distance. Maybe I can rest there for the night, and fix my wound. Getting close he moved sliently to avoid anyone hearing him, and tiptoed towards the door while his shoulder screamed in pain.

Kicking the door open, sword drawn, he rushed in and charged in. Safe at last... Khallos gasped with pain as he stumbled over a floor board, just before he crumpled to the ground and passed out.

----
Ooc: Oops, I'll collapse from pain and bloodloss after tripping over a floorboard. Sorry ninja for mucking it up, yo'll have to change it to me collapsing.

Edited by Khallos, 11 December 2006 - 01:18 PM.

[Rhiannon]

OOC: Woo Khallos is with us again! On that note... Selena isn't actually inside the house so I'm going to pretend you kicked some loose board or something just for the sake of everything going smoothly ^^.

--

Rhia fell back in fright as Toan started to speak. She had thought he was too out of it to notice her presence, but apparently not. Although, as frightening as he was, Rhia felt oddly calm with him. She giggled at his crazy antics, and kept washing is face in a much smoother motion.

Suddenly he stood up and attempted what she assumed was a walk. Watching him carefully she rung out the wash cloth when all of a sudden she hear a great thud. Instinctively she looked over to Goose to see if he was alirght. Seeing that everything was fine, she frowned and looked over to see how far Toan had gotten with that silly pool leg tied to his own. There he lied. Flat on the ground, hand on his head. Quickly, she crawled over to his side. She helped him as he struggled to get rid of the goggles on his head. She gave him a small smile as he looked at her.

She pulled the bucket of water over. Toan had moved very little in the few moments but what he had gave Rhia a view of dripping blood. She whimpered softly at the sight of it, she never could look at it. Quickly she folded the cloth, reached over and laid it gently on his forehead.

"You are one crazy messed up fish, you know that?" she chided. She looked over at him only to see that he had been starring at her. He looked over at her with a gaze that she had only seen once before. It reminded her of her mother. Without a word, she struggled to untie the knot Toan had made with the rope around his leg.

Just as she had finished getting the pool leg off Toan's leg a loud breaking sound came from outside followed by a very loud groan. Assuming this was Lena, taking her emotions on some object, she brushed the noise aside and continued to clean Toan up so they could meet her.

"We should hurryish... Lena will come in soon and if she sees this, I don't know what she'll do. Plus she'll be plenty pissed that we've kept her waiting so long."

Carefully she crawled around behind Toan. Kneeling, she gently pushed him up into a sitting position and began to pull the pink bathrobe off his shoulders.

"You may be scary, but you've sure got style fishy," she giggled.

Edited by Rhiannon, 11 December 2006 - 04:03 PM.

[ninja kitten]

Shiima watched as One and Xeres disappeared, taking comfort and maybe even a bit of hope in the wink he left her with. Slowly getting up, she shuffled over to where Selena was, wanting to get everything back to normal. Suddenly the door burst open and Khallos rushed in. Jumping aside, she saw as Lena greeted him with a thrust of her spear. "Eek!" was all Shiima could squeak out.

-------------
OCC: (dunno what that means)
just trying to stay things. sorry if i get a bit behind.

[Selena]

Selena, impatient with Rhiannon's failure to show up when she beckoned, stood and marched towards the entrance of the safe house on her own, her spear in her hands. Honestly, it wasn't wise to leave her position with no one on watch to cover her. The least they could have done was obey her and allow her to remain on duty. She walked through the open door, and nearly found herself tripping over Khallos.

"I see reinforcements have arrived and killed themselves already," Selena said, looking down. "Joy. What's the hold up?"

She took a look at the group, noting Toan's poor condition. Rhiannon must have attempted to tend to his drug induced state - not that it would help in the least. These things had to wear themselves off. Whatever he did until he fell back down to earth... she just hoped it wouldn't leave permanent scars. With a sigh, she turned her head back towards the door.

"Rhiannon, come outside with me. I need to stay on watch duty and I want to speak to you in private. Toan, if you can manage, follow along." She turned to Khallos and Shiima. "You'll have to excuse me, Khallos. Shiima, tend to him and make sure he gets settled, will you?"

At least that would give her something to do, perhaps taking an edge off her paranoia. Selena wasn't going to kill her, or anything. At least... not unless it would be deemed necessary by a noted betrayal. But One and Xeres seemed intent on that not being an option for any of them. Probably lying, but the crystal Selena now owned seemed to counter that sentiment. In theory.

She marched back outside, trusting her apprentice (and perhaps her brother) would follow. She'd return after their talk. After all, they still had missions to complete to further their goals in the region. With the addition of Khallos, they had someone to make up for Xeres' absence, thank goodness. All was not lost.

[ninja kitten]

Dropping to her knees, Shiima turned her attention to poor Khallos. Selena had been gruff, but it was nothing Shiima wasn't used to already. "You poor lil thing" she muttered as she tried to stop all the blood. "Lots of pain for all of us anymore. I miss the days in the Canyon when life was so simple. Occasional raid, big parties, tons of time to sleep and train... but that life is behind us." Using her magic, Shiima was able to summon enough water to dampen a rag enough to wipe most of the blood away. Gently she took his arm and bandaged the cut wrists. "When you awaken you'll certainly have quite the tale to share with us. I've not seen this much blood in ages." She removed most of his bloodied clothes and set to fixing the rest of his wounds, all the while waiting for Selena and poor Toan to return.

[Rhiannon]

Rhiannon looked down as soon as Selena entered the room. She was late. Toan had taken much more time than she had anticipated and with Selena's already short-temper and her new mistrust placed in everyone Rhia was anxious.

"Rhiannon, come outside with me. I need to stay on watch duty and I want to speak to you in private." Rhia nodded with each word said and only looked up once she heard the fading footsteps.

"We better get going fishy, " she sighed. The truth was, Rhia missed home. She missed when everyone was clam and at least somewhat happy. Maybe it will all be over soon. Resting her hand on Toan's neck she gave him one last look of compassion and began to walk out the door. She smiled slightly as she passed Shiima and Khallos.

Quickly she bent down and whispered to Khallos, "It's nice to have you here. Get better."

And with that, she walked around the corner to meet Selena.